While this may not deal with teleprompting, it does deal with life. I like life and helping others stay alive. So, read on:
When a large earthquake or similar disaster hits, the first responders will be focused on more populated areas like arenas, major malls, and schools. Based on previous large disasters worldwide, it’s possible they won’t get to regular neighborhoods and individuals until 3-5 days pass.
We always want to help those in trouble. That makes us human and caring. The fear is that when a regular person heads into an accident area to help a victim, if they are aren’t trained, there may now be TWO victims. History bears this out, especially in Northridge and other earthquakes in Mexico.
So, the Community Emergency Response Team, CERT, was created in 1985 and refined over the years.
I’ve been trained in Wilderness First Aid for over 15 years.
It’s what you do when hospitals and EMS are more than 5 hours away. But CERT is for long term management of resources and civilians after a disaster. The two overlap.
There’s also a ton of areas within CERT: communications, operations, resources, medical, even dealing with psychological trauma… I’ve actually gotten my Ham radio license for when cell towers are down or overloaded and emergency communications need to still get out.
I took a basic CERT class over a few months. Learned a ton of useful stuff.
Having food, water, and basic supplies for a week at your house is a minimum. Learning how to deal with putting out fires and other dangers like chemical spills is all part of their training. (Imagine that sink area where all your cleaning supplies or your garage with all the paints and harsher chemicals catching on fire, yay!)
I’ve also been attending scenarios for the past six months… hundreds of volunteers come together to split into teams that cover multiple accident scenes, and also act as victims, or even make up artists to do moulage (fake wounds and blood for training purposes.) They do this in conjunction with the local fire departments and police to make it more real but also to critique us and add pertinent skills.
I’d heartily suggest you find a CERT group wherever you live. Because, preparing for your and your family’s safety comes first, but knowing how to calmly take care of other’s needs until EMS or the Fire Department arrives days later is critical to survival— long after the disaster.